


The Root is Out There

by for_t2



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - X-Files Fusion, Alternative Universe - FBI, Betrayal, Bunkers, Conspiracy Theories, F/F, Humor, Infiltration, Libraries, Ominious Warnings, The Truth is Out There
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 12:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30139563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Agent Sameen Shaw didn't ask to be re-assigned to the office of conspiracy theories, and she definitely didn't ask to get caught up in a real conspiracy
Relationships: Root | Samantha Groves/Sameen Shaw
Kudos: 26





	The Root is Out There

Of all the re-assignments that were possible in the Bureau, this one had to be one of the last ones Shaw would ever have chosen. Especially when it wasn’t really her fault that the last file she had worked on had gotten… a little out of hand (especially when she had been exceedingly careful to just kneecap the perpetrators, albeit a little enthusiastically careful). Shit happens sometimes.

She just wished that sometimes didn’t always seem to land on her.

Maybe this re-assignment was the universe’s way of taunting her. If Shaw sometimes felt like fate was conspiring against her, might as well send her to the office in the basement where the Bureau’s resident conspiracy theorist lived. Ironic. Ha ha. And it was a really cramped office too, overflowing with carboard boxes and bits of metal that Shaw didn’t want to guess what they were supposed to be used for and the tackiest posters Shaw had ever seen.

At least Shaw hadn’t been suspended. At least this wasn’t desk duty. At least-- 

“Hello there.” Shaw jumped as a voice appeared behind her. As a pair of dorky glasses appeared behind her and flipped open a wallet. “Special Agent Augusta King.”

Shaw sighed. “I know who you are.” When the boss had handed her news of the re-assignment, her partner Lionel’s eyes had gone wide. Not in a good way, but in the way that he was trying not to laugh. “Agent Shaw. I’ve been re-assigned here.”

Special Agent King glanced at the badge in her wallet and her eyes twitched in what Shaw guessed was meant to be a wink. “It never gets old, does it?” Before she tossed the wallet onto one of the piles of stuff and flopped back into a chair. “But don’t worry, Sameen, I know all about you. I’ve read all your files. And I’ve gotta say that I’m a huge fan.”

This was already going badly. “Sure.”

King’s grin got even wider. “It’s why I personally requested your re-assignment here.”

Very badly. “You what?”

“As I said, I’m a huge fan.” King picked up a magazine, UFO Weekly or something equally undignified, and tossed it at Shaw. “We’re going to make such a great team together.”

Nope. Shaw took it back. She’d rather have been punished with desk duty.

*****

“You know, Sameen, I think it’s very unfair how they kicked you out of your residency.”

Shaw sighed and tried to ignore Special Agent King as she shifted from aimless chattering about aliens into her newest favourite subject: Shaw. Shaw did not like being her newest favourite subject. Especially not when they were in the middle of a case and Shaw was trying to carefully sort through potential evidence.

“I mean, your test scores were remarkable. And apparently you never flinched in surgery.” King swept her flashlight across the room, in every direction but the one Shaw was working in. “And, well, you look like you have very… talented hands.”

Shaw almost banged her head against the wall. If you really pressed her, she’d have to admit that Special Agent King wasn’t entirely unattractive, but she was entirely terrible at flirting. And a murder scene in the middle of a dilapidated house in the middle of a small town in the middle of a cold, foggy forest was hardly the best place for it. “I don’t think you’re going to find any evidence in the microwave.”

“Hm?” Special Agent King stopped sweeping her flashlight around the room. “Oh, don’t worry, Sameen.” She smiled. “I know exactly what I’m looking for.”

*****

This was Shaw’s first case, her second day on re-assignment, and it was already the third time she was seriously considering going back up to Control (as the Bureau’s boss was so affectionately called) and begging her to dump her on desk duty.

Especially since Special Agent King had turned out to be surprisingly good at the job.

In a way. She had managed to find a piece of evidence at the crime scene that Shaw had completely missed, and, for a moment, Shaw was impressed. But in the next moment, King decided that the best place to get the evidence wasn’t the Bureau’s extensive and well-equipped labs, but rather a trailer caravan parked behind one of the city’s broadcasting radio stations.

A trailer that Shaw was pretty sure was hacking into the radio station’s equipment.

Something that Shaw was pretty sure was highly illegal.

Highly.

But Special Agent King had said this was the best place in the country to get the type of analysis they needed and being on re-assignment meant that Shaw needed to be on her more cooperative behaviour. Even if King’s working hypothesis on the perpetrator was… unconventional. Even if the small gang of nerds cooped up in the trailer had launched themselves into an argument five minutes after they had showed. An argument that King was eagerly participating in.

“That’s not how that works.” The trailer fell silent as Shaw interrupted them. She may not know much about radio astronomy, but she was a doctor and she knew her biological pathways. “If aliens existed, they wouldn’t…”

Shaw’s voice trailed off as she realised that all four of them were staring at her. Were giving her a look.

Eventually, Special Agent King raised an eyebrow. “If?”

Shaw opened her mouth to argue but closed it just as quickly. She was badly, badly outnumbered. “I need lunch.”

*****

Shaw always looked forward to lunch.

Always.

Unfortunately, she had just stepped away from the best sandwich cart in the city, was just about to take a bite of the best sandwich in the country (the Beatrice Lillie with extra mustard) when she felt someone step next to her. Someone who was following her.

She slipped one of her hands towards her gun. Put on her best sarcastic smile. “Who are you?”

“I’m not your enemy, Shaw.”

Shaw scoffed. “That must be why you’re stalking me, then.”

The man, tall and his voice a deep whisper, didn’t step away from her. “Have you heard of the Man in the Suit?”

The Man in the… Yes. “You’re Joss’s case.”

The man titled his head slightly in affirmative. Shaw could’ve sworn he was smirking. “There’s someone who needs to talk to you.” He glanced around the city. “Urgently.”

*****

The old library was dark, even in the middle of the day, and it barely managed to be warmer than the rain outside. Most of the books had a layer of dust that hadn’t been disturbed in years, and Shaw had the distinct feeling that she was being watched.

And not just by the Man in the Suit, who had stopped at the edge of the gate and nodded her forward.

Shaw only needed to take a few steps forward before someone else limped out of the books. “Agent Shaw?”

Shaw kept her hand near to her holster. “That’s me.”

“Oh, good.” The someone didn’t step entirely out of the shadows. “I’m terribly sorry to disturb your lunch, but it would appear that your partner’s number has come up.”

Shaw wasn’t sure what that meant. Wasn’t sure who she was speaking to. Wasn’t sure what she had gotten herself involved in. So she stayed silent. Waited for the man in the shadows to continue.

“We are being watched, Agent Shaw.” He finally shifted uncomfortably in the silence. “The government has secret systems. Systems that Special Agent King is getting a little too close to.”

Shaw wasn’t sure whether to laugh or frown (or both). There were conspiracy theories (and in just a day in Special Agent King’s office, she had gotten acquainted with a larger variety of them than she ever would’ve wanted) and then there was this. And something about this set her on edge. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Agent Shaw,” something that she couldn’t escape the feeling of being watched by. “That your partner is in grave danger.”

*****

Shaw, of course, had gone right back to the office. She could eat her sandwich while she worked. Because, whatever was going on, her instincts screamed at her that it was important.

But, of course, the moment she stepped back through the office door, Special Agent King grinned at her. “Do you want to hear the good news or the excellent news?”

Shaw wasn’t sure she wanted to hear either. “The good news?”

Special Agent King held up a small slip of paper with something scribbled on. “I have a lead on our murder.”

Surprisingly, that was good news. Shaw could use a lead. “And what’s the excellent news?”

“Well, Sameen, the excellent news is that we have a couple of hours to spare before we can go chasing that lead.” King held up a pair of zip ties. “And one of the perks of this office is that nobody ever comes down here to disturb you.”

The first thing that Shaw thought was that she couldn’t be serious.

The second thing she thought was that it was a terrible idea.

The third thing was that she could really use a way to take out some stress.

*****

Special Agent King’s footsteps echoed loudly off the walls of the underground bunker.

It made Shaw uneasy. Not just because they were in an underground bunker that she hadn’t known existed until half an hour ago, but also because the bunker was empty. Completely empty. After King’s footsteps, the only other sounds were the small drip of water from rusted pipes falling onto mold-stained concrete.

It was too empty.

“Wait.” Shaw stopped King before she marched through a closed door. “Let me.”

Shaw remembered what the Man in the Suit had said. Had remembered that feeling of being watched. That feeling of danger.

She really hoped it wasn’t aliens.

So she drew her gun. Stepped in front of King and tried the door handle. Put her weight into it. Forced it open.

And came face-to-face with an empty room. A small empty room. A dead end.

Special Agent King’s gun clicked behind her.

Shaw was cornered. “Fuck.”

King chuckled. “Now, now, Sameen. You don’t have to sound so heartbroken.” King reached out to pry the gun out of Shaw’s hands. “I still have plenty of zip ties.”

Shaw didn’t laugh. “I’m guessing you’re not the one in danger.” Shaw didn’t need King, or whatever her real name was to answer to know that it was a good guess. “So who are you really?”

“Me?” She glanced up from the two guns in her hands. “Oh, you can call me Root.” And then grinned. “And don’t worry, they won’t find the real Augusta King’s body. I’m very good at this type of thing.”

Of course. Shaw tried to weigh her options. Tried to plot a way out. But the problem with underground bunkers is that solid concrete doesn’t leave you with a lot of options. “I hope someone’s told you that two guns at once is kinda lame.”

Root gave her an extremely condescending smile. “I told you we’d make a good team, Sameen. You managed to find the Man in the Suit in no time at all.”

Shaw swore under her breath. Root must’ve bugged her. And Shaw hadn’t noticed.

“I’ve been looking for him for months. His boss is a very, very important person.” Root grinned again, and this time it made a part of Shaw shiver. This time, there was something bloodthirsty in it. “So tell me, Sameen: where is he hiding?”


End file.
